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Die-hard drill instructors, jailbreaking football coaches, and corrupt backwoods sheriffs. It was all just another day of work for former Marine Corp. drill instructor-turned-actor R. Lee Ermey, who died earlier this week. Ermey was an incredibly dynamic character-actor with an instantly recognizable face and rambunctious personality. The Kansas native joined the Marine Corp. in lieu of jail time after he’d been arrested twice by the age of 17. He began his career serving as a drill instructor in San Diego during the early 1960s before eventually being sent on a 14-month deployment in Vietnam. He was injured during his tour in 1969 and was sent to work as a staff sergeant in Okinawa before being medically discharged in 1972, ending his hopes of a long military career. After moving to the Philippines to attend college, Ermey married and began taking odd jobs in television commercials before landing his first film role as Sgt. Loyce in a movie called The Boys in Company C, which followed five young Marine Corp. recruits from their bootcamp training to their deployment in Vietnam. Continue reading →

Director Wes Craven went down in cinematic history for his iconic career in the horror film industry. Craven is behind such famous franchises as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, which of course brought the unforgettable characters of Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees to movie-goers worldwide. This was not, however, the reaction upon the release of a much earlier and grittier horror film Craven got behind in the early ’70s. The Last House on the Left was released on August 30, 1972. It was one of Craven’s first pairings with horror producer Sean S. Cunningham, and serves as a staple of cult horror films typical of the era. The film’s harshly realistic and graphic subject matter surrounds a pair of teenage girls who are abducted by a gang of escaped convicts and are subjected to rape, disembowelment, castration, and much more. Continue reading →

This week will see a whole collection of independent limited releases happening across the country. First on the list is The Big Short from director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), starring Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Hustle), Steve Carell (The Office, Seeking A Friend for the End of the World), Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines), and Brad Pitt (Babel, By The Sea). The film, based on the novel by Michael Lewis, follows four friends who predicted the housing market collapse in the mid 2000s and bet against the odds with the national banks, becoming nearly instant millionaires. The film was last seen at the AFI Film Festival in LA earlier this year, and a further nationwide expansion is still expected for 2016. Continue reading →

Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) is currently working on principle photography for his upcoming remake of the classic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven. The original film was directed by legendary director John Sturges (The Great Escape, Joe Kidd) and featured an all-star cast that included Yul Brynner (The Ten Commandments), Eli Wallach (The Good The Bad and the Ugly), Steve McQueen (Bullitt), Charles Bronson (Death Wish), Robert Vaughn (Julius Caesar), Brad Dexter (Run Silent Run Deep), and James Coburn (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid). Composer Elmer Bernstein received an Oscar-nomination for Best Musical Score (Drama/Comedy) for his work on the picture, and the film was selected for the National Film Registry by the National Film Preservation Board in 2013. Continue reading →

After a long delay due to the untimely death of veteran-actor Paul Walker, the seventh installment in the Fast and Furious franchise is opening in theaters this tomorrow, April 3rd. The film will bring back Vin Diesel (XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick), Dwayne Johnson (Walking Tall, Hercules), Michelle Rodriguez (SWAT, Avatar), Jordana Brewster (The Faculty, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), Tyrese Gibson (Four Brothers, Transformers: Dark of the Moon), and newcomers Jason Statham (The Italian Job, The Transporter) and Kurt Russell (Escape from New York, Miracle) with the rest of the Furious 7 crew under the new direction of horror/suspense director James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring). Production on the film was obviously put on hold until script revisions and fill-ins by way of Walker’s brothers could be arranged to complete principle photography and now fans will finally get to see the long-awaited installment on the big-screen. Watch the trailer one more time here on MADE, then be sure to check it out this weekend!

Director Oliver Stone has presented some pretty controversial biographical films in his career, JFK, Nixon, and W. just to name a few. His latest project, again simply titled Snowden, about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is now filming with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) in the lead role. More specifically, the plot follows Snowden from his time in the US Army in 2004 to his groundbreaking interview in Hong Kong with documentarian Laura Poitras (whose documentary film, Citizenfour, about that very interview, just won an Oscar for Best Documentary), during which he exposed top-secret NSA documents before fleeing to Russia for asylum. The script comes from two primary sources: author Luke Harding’s The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man and Anatoly Kucherena’s Time of the Octopus (Kucherena is Snowden’s Russian attorney), which were adapted for the film by Stone and screenwriter Kieran Fitzgerald. Included in the supporting cast are actors Shailene Woodley (Divergent, The Fault in our Stars), Scott Eastwood (Texas Chainsaw 3D, Fury), Nicholas Cage (Face-Off, Matchstick Men), Timothy Olyphant (Live Free or Die Hard, Justified), Zachary Quinto (American Horror Story, Star Trek Into Darkness), and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton, The Exorcism of Emily Rose). The film is scheduled for release Christmas Day 2015. Stay tuned for more news.

This April will see the final installment of the iconic Fast and Furious series with original actor Paul Walker from Universal Studios. This will be director James Wan‘s (Saw, The Conjuring) first-step into the action-film series that will reunite cast members Vin Diesel (XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick), Dwayne Johnson (Walking Tall, Hercules), Jordana Brewster (The Faculty, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), and Michelle Rodriguez (S.W.A.T., Avatar), plus the whole string of actors that have appeared regularly throughout the series. Also joining the cast for this upcoming installment is Jason Statham (The Transporter, The Italian Job), who made an uncredited appearance in Fast and Furious 6, and Golden Globe-nominee Kurt Russell (Escape From New York, Death Proof). This seventh installment in the series has been making news since Paul Walker’s untimely death in 2013; the production was delayed by 6 months, the script was tweaked for Walker’s absence, and even Walker’s brothers came aboard to help complete some of his scenes with the help of CGI technology, so needless to say this movie has been through some hurdles already. Check out the trailer here on MADE. The opens near you this April 3rd.

Check out the new trailer for the upcoming Fast and Furious 7. Featured in the trailer is some of the footage with the late Paul Walker, who died last year in a car accident, and whose character’s scenes were completed in the film by use of CGI computer technology and Walker’s three brothers to fill in for the actor. The movie is directed by James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring) and brings back stars Vin Diesel (The Fast and the Furious, XXX), Dwayne Johnson (Walking Tall, Fast and Furious 6), Michelle Rodriguez (S.W.A.T., Avatar), and Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning). Expect to see it hit theaters on April 3, 2015. Enjoy!

Check out the new trailer for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie starring Megan Fox as April O’Neil and Johnny Knoxville as the voice of Leonardo. Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub will also be featured as the voice of Splinter, and William Fichtner will appear in the film as The Shredder. The movie is set for release this August and is directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Battle: Los Angeles) from a script by Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec, and Evan Daugherty. Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again when the leaves turn gold, the air gets cold, and the candy companies flood every corner and grocery store across America. Halloween comes back around every Autumn, coinciding with the start of the NFL, NBA and NHL seasons, which makes it one of the best times of the year! To capture the true feeling of this fun and historical holiday (Halloween is based on an ancient festival known as Samhain, celebrating the end of summer and those who have passed from the Earth), be sure to check out some classic horror movies that have made Halloween so enjoyable throughout the years.

1. Halloween, Halloween II (1978, 1981)

John Carpenter and Debra Hill made horror movie history when their low-budget horror film, simply entitled Halloween, broke box office records and made newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis an instant star. Donald Pleasance (1919-1995) starred in the lead role as psychiatrist Sam Loomis (taking the name from the characgter Sam Loomis in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which also starred Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother Janet Leigh!), who pursues his escaped mental patient to his hometown in order to prevent a massive killing spree on Halloween night, only to find himself and the Haddonfield Police unable to cope with the evil that is Michael Myers. The film has gone on to have seven sequels and most recently a “revision” of the original films by director Rob Zombie, but none have ever been able to top the movie that’s become known as the first of the “slasher-movie genre.”

2. The Exorcist (1973)

Known as the scariest movie of all time, The Exorcist set a new standard for the horror movie genre when it won four Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair), and Best Screenplay (William Peter Blatty). Based on the novel by William Blatty, who would return in 1990 to write and direct Exorcist 3 based on his novel Legion, The Exorcist frightened audiences with its revolutionary sound effects, makeup art, and cinematography. Sound editors Robert Knudson and Christopher Newman also won the Academy Award for Best Sound, and the film has gone down in history as the definitive horror film, praying on the audiences’ inner demons and fear of the unknown. A definite must see if you never have before!

3. Frankenstein (1931)

Whether you’re a fan of scary movies or not, chances are you’ve seen some variation of Frankenstein. Boris Karloff, however, has always maintained the definitive look that everyone associates with the creature created by a mad scientist for his own ambitions. Although the story has gone on to have countless sequels and remakes, director James Whales’ original set a horror standard for its time, and helped Boris Karloff become one of the most famous faces the horror genre ever saw. After you watch the classic, check out Mel Brooks’ hilarious spin on the story, Young Frankenstein (1974).

4. The Amityville Horror (1979, 2005)

Based on the book The Amityville Horror: A True Story by author Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror is one of the iconic haunted house stories. Playing with both psychological thrill and jump-from-the-screen screams, Amityville has maintained a reputation as one of the most famous horror movies, partly in fact because it is based on actual events. Having more than four sequels, and a re-make staring Ryan Reynolds in 2005, Amityville definitely makes the list of classics!

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 2003)

Another movie that has been revamped for new generations, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a great watch for the Halloween spirit. Based in part on the crimes of actual murderer Ed Gein, Chainsaw follows a group of friends as they travel through Texas and experience horrors beyond nightmares when they come across Leatherface and his family of cannibals and deep-country incest. The film has also had several sequels and a successful re-make in 2003 starring Jessica Biel. The story is pretty entertaining whether you watch the original or the new one, so knock yourself out.